At present, when using mobile communication, whether it be for speech or data, problems arise when geographic movement results in switches between operators. This is particularly the case when national boundaries are crossed.
Existing roaming logic for switches between operators does not, for example, take into account:                Which services (speech or various data configurations) the “original” operator has activated.        Geographical coverage.        Different costs for different services.        Whether services other than speech can function in the selected network.        
On the whole, existing roaming logic has been developed for speech communication and, as a result, there are certain shortcomings when communication is between machines.
The mobile data services offered in today's mobile data networks handle roaming both in the national network and internationally. The latter is handled by the operator concluding contracts with, most usually, a number of operators in other countries.
When, for example, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) was launched, speech was and, to a large extent, still is the only or the most common use. With operators and telecom suppliers increasing their range of services (e.g. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rate of GSM Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telephone system (UMTS)), roaming has become more complex.
When a subscription leaves the “original” operator's national network and enters a different country, the roaming logic built into telephones and Subscriber Identifier Module (SIM) cards searches for the operators with which the original operator has agreements. A selection amongst operators that the telephone comes into contact with is then made.
If operator A has agreements with B, C, D and E in a foreign country, the choice of operator B, C, D or E is, when the subscription changes countries, random. If the application is speech, then roaming will, in all probability, be successful.
However, if the application is, for example, MMS, GPRS, EDGE or UMTS, then the selected foreign operator must have support for the technology in question.
The identified difficulties hinge on the mobile service user not being able to control operator choice so as to achieve optimum results when confronted by the problems outlined below.
Problem 1 is where operators C, D and E support the required technology, but operator B does not. Thus, if the subscription from operator A roams to B, then the application will not work. Because the existing roaming logic in operators' networks and in SIM cards does not take support for various technologies into account, the subscription will stay with operator B.
Problem 2 is where operators have different prices for their services. For example, the subscription with original operator A roams, by chance, to operator C. The service works, but operators D and E are considerably cheaper than C and would thus be the logical choice.
Problem 3 is where, for strategic reasons, operators have different geographical coverages. For example, operator D covers 95% of a country, whereas operator E covers only 50% of this country. Given equal service charges, the logical choice is, of course, operator D. However, with existing roaming logic, the subscription's choice of operator is random.
In all probability, virtual operators will solve problem 1 by allowing their subscriptions to roam only to those operators who support the requisite technologies. However, problems 2 and 3 remain.
If it is assumed that, to overcome roaming problem 1, virtual operators select only one operator in each country, then this solution has the disadvantage that the application will not work if the selected operator's service goes down.
The problem of inadequate roaming technology became clear when vans/trucks were equipped for monitoring certain transport movements in which the cargo space was to be kept security sealed and the objective was to follow the vehicle's physical movements from a supplier in one country to a recipient in another.